Family ticket
by SkyeL4
Summary: When Emma, Regina and Henry are offered a family ticket to the theme park, Emma takes it immediately and insists on being the Swan-Millses for the day... Oneshot short fic for Swan Queen Week day 4: Mistaken for a couple.


The smell of hot dogs wafted through the air. Emma breathed it in watching Henry race David to the ticket barrier and Snow followed them laughing. She let her breath go in satisfaction and turned to Regina. Her face was a picture of disgust.

"Don't like the smell of theme park food?" Emma asked

"That's food? I've burned villages that smelled better than this" she said. She straightened her coat and scowled at people passing them by. That was an extreme comment, even by Regina's standards, Emma thought.

"Hey" she stopped walking. Regina looked around them. "You don't have to go on any rides if you don't want to, or even eat here, I packed sandwiches for the car ride back." Regina tipped her head to one side in surprise. "Well, they're Granny's sandwiches" she clarified "but I packed them".

Regina almost smiled. She wanted to go home but she had promised Henry that she would try and have fun for his birthday trip to the theme park. She looked down at the shiny blue paint on the railing that marked the queue lines. It looked like it had been painted a hundred times. She could see how the thick coating had dried lumpy with visible drips. It made her feel sick.

"I'm just out of my depth here. I'm not used to it" she said quietly

"I know. I'll be with you though" Emma touched her arm.

"What about when you're on the rides?" Regina asked with a wrinkle of worry

"I'll find you afterwards." Emma put on her face that meant she was about to impersonate David "I will always find you" she said in a comically deep voice. Regina smiled in spite of herself and nudged Emma with her elbow.

"Come on, then" she said. Emma laughed after her.

"Good morning ma'am!" Said a young woman in an alarmingly yellow t-shirt that bore the park logo. Her name tag said "Jenny :)"

"Is it a family ticket?" She asked Regina. She looked to Emma who was trying to untangle Henry from a turnstile he was caught in.

"Just wait a second, little guy, I'll buzz you through" the woman at the kiosk said. She turned back to Regina with a big smile "he's adorable. Is it his first time here?" Regina nodded. "Yours too then?" She asked. Regina nodded again. Emma finally got Henry's backpack out of the machine and stood up.

"Sorry about that" she said

"No problem, I was just saying how sweet it was that he is so excited" Jenny said

Regina had managed to read the ticket sign in the short reprieve she was given. Adult, child, senior citizen, student, family ticket. The picture next to the last one was two opposite gender stick people and two smaller ones, children she presumed. Family ticket prices varied by the number of children but they were consistently male and female parents.

"So, a family ticket?" she asked again. Emma turned to Regina in surprise, glanced at the sign and back to Jenny.

"Yep, that's the one" Emma said. Regina's eyes widened. Why was she surprised? Emma used to be a con after all and that would save them some money.

"I hope you don't mind me saying" Jenny said as she attached a wristband to Henry before he flew into the turnstile again "you have a beautiful family. I hope you have a really great day here." She passed the two adult bands to Emma who grinned back.

"Thank you very much" she said "you have a good day too" Jenny beamed back at her. Emma took Regina's hand and lead them through.

"After you, honey" Emma said loud enough for Jenny to hear. Regina laughed.

"Thank you, darling" she replied. Emma followed her through and linked her arm.

"We're going to have to keep this up all day" Emma said "or we might get arrested for fraud"

"Might we?" Regina turned to face her.

"Yeah" Emma accidentally glanced at her lips. Regina arched an eyebrow

"I don't want you getting carried away now, Miss Swan" she said, though her eyes danced with mischief.

"Liar" Emma said as she unslid her arm from Regina's to join Henry, Snow and David at the park map. She turned around to smile at Regina whose look was half reprimanding, half enjoyment.

"I suppose I should be grateful that out of the two options Henry is going to collapse in a sugar coma, and not die on one of those monstrosities" Regina said, strolling slowly along the edge of the pond that brought them back towards where they would leave the park. The weather had stayed nice for them, everyone had enjoyed the rides and games, and Regina had barely found Snow annoying at all.

"He had a great time" Emma replied, slurping a slushy the size of her torso. "Also I thought, since we're Mrs and Mrs Swan-Mills for the day, and I'm probably never going to get you to a theme park again" She paused from fishing around in her bag to put on a silly, soft voice "I got you something, baby"

"Swan-Mills?" Regina asked

"Yeah" Emma replied "it sounds better than Mills-Swan and I'm not taking your name so it's Swan-Mills. As if you would ever be Regina Swan" Emma snorted in amusement at the idea. Regina watched carefully.

"How much thought have you given this, Mrs Swan-Mills?" She asked sarcastically.

"Oh you're always on my mind, babe" Emma said, though hearing Regina say Swan-Mills made her tingle.

"Babe?" Regina asked

"I like it better than baby" she replied

"How about my name?" Regina said. The annoyance in her voice might have sounded genuine to anyone else, but Emma knew is was all put on for her benefit.

"Mrs Swan-Mills?" Emma asked

"My real name" Regina said

"Shh! Someone might hear, we're not safe here, babe!" Emma took her hand and pulled her behind a stall and into an area shaded by trees.

"Oh my god" Regina rolled her eyes but couldn't hide how funny she found it

"This is what I got you, sweetheart"

"Emma Swan-Mills, I swear to god" Regina said at the new nickname.

Emma pulled out a pair of enormous sunglasses and handed them over to Regina.

"Oh Emma" Regina said with all the sarcasm she could muster "...they're...beautiful. My first ever gift from my wife. You've set the bar very high, sweetheart. You know me so well" she unfolded them and put them on "how do I look?" she asked, faux-fixing her hair. The frames were bright green and easily 10 times the size of normal sunglasses.

"Stunning, babe" Emma said. Regina laughed.

"Who's the liar now?" She asked

"Still not me" Emma replied with a smile.

"Moms!" They were interrupted.

"You can't take those off, they were a special gift" Emma said as Regina went to remove them.

"What? I'm not walking around in them!" she insisted

"I'm going to wear this" Emma pulled out an enormous velvet hat

"Oh" Regina's hand flew up to her cheek as she tried not to laugh "it's gorgeous, darling"

"MOMS"

"How will I keep my hands off you?" she asked. Emma almost blushed

"Thanks, babe" she said, taking Regina's hand again and leading them towards Henry

"I thought you...what are you wearing?" He started

"It's family photo time!" Emma threw him a set of yoda ears and motioned towards the "FAMILY FOTO FUN" area.

"Awesome!" Henry announced and lead the way. It was only a short distance but Regina's hand stayed in Emma's. She couldn't let herself think about how nice that was. It was all under the pretence of it being a joke, she reminded herself it meant nothing.

"Good afternoon!" A man in an excessively bright yellow t-shirt said. His beard was big and scrubby though he was quite young. "You have a universe of backgrounds to choose from! Just stand there" he motioned to a bright green backdrop and they shuffled over. Regina's fingers still intertwined with Emma's "and you can see what the photos will be like on here" he pointed to a screen "then you choose the ones you like the best, and get them printed over there. Questions?"

"Can you pick backgrounds for us?" Emma asked

"Sure, if there's too much choice for you, I'll do my favourites!" he replied, pleased to be asked.

"Awesome" Emma smiled at him

"Ready?" He asked. Regina's hand slid from hers. Emma hid her disappointment with enthusiasm for the photoshoot. An evergreen forest appeared behind them.

"Not that one!" Emma and Regina said in unison. Henry cracked up laughing as the photo guy held his hands up and changed it.

They went through maybe 20 backgrounds before Henry called it a day. They did silly faces, serious poses and fashion model style face-offs. They swapped accessories and Henry tried to pick up Regina. In response Emma ducked under his legs, grabbed his ankles and he fell over her back. Regina gasped but when it became clear that Emma was well practiced at this, she laughed watching her swing him gently side to side holding his ankles and he howled with laughter.

Regina pulled Emma's hat off and straightened her hair. Small icons of their photos appeared on a screen.

"I'll get them" Emma said

"I can pa-" Regina began

"Babe" Emma interrupted, earning a playful scowl from Regina "I said I'd get them. Can you get some water for the drive back?"

Regina and Henry went in search of water and met Emma, Snow and David at the exit.

"Nice bear" Emma said "who won it?"

"Please, with a bow and arrow?" Snow said and looked sympathetically at David

"They weren't the best quality" David said

"Well you know what they say about a good workman" Snow replied, smugly.

"Ok" Emma laughed "who's ready to go home?"

All agreed, Henry reluctantly, and they trundled out of the park.

Emma walked side by side with Regina. They didn't really talk but it wasn't awkward. They watched Henry spend the last of his sugar rush energy play sword fighting with Snow and the plastic swords he had won.

"There's our biggest fan" Regina pointed out Jenny. Emma laughed and when Jenny saw them Regina waved.

"Did you have a nice day?" She asked, holding the gate open for them.

"A very nice day, thank you" she replied and slid her arm around Emma's waist.

Emma's heart leapt but she smiled "it was awesome, thank you!" Jenny beamed at them and waved goodbye.

"Are you ok?" Regina asked when they reached the bug.

"Yeah" Emma replied. In truth, the flutter in her chest had not calmed down. Might it actually be getting worse? Maybe she was having a heart attack. Snow, David and Henry waved goodbye to them from the truck.

"Race you home!" David shouted

"Drive carefully!" Snow added

Regina turned back to Emma "you don't look ok. Do you want me to drive?"

"No, I'm fine. Would you seriously drive my car anyway?" Emma asked

"This yellow coffin on wheels? I would if you weren't up to it, which it seems may be the case" Regina touched Emma's forehead with the back of her hand

"I'm really fine" Emma said

"I may not have your superpower, but that was an awful lie, Miss Swan"

"We're not the Swan-Millses anymore?" Emma asked

Regina shook her head. "It was fun though"

"Yeah?" Emma asked, brightening up.

"Yes. Although if you ever call me babe again"

"Oh you loved it" Emma dismissed. Regina laughed. "You wanna do it again sometime?" Emma asked and then realised she sounded like she was leaving Regina on the doorstep after their first date and cringed internally.

"The theme park or the pseudo-marriage?" Regina asked

"Either. Both" Emma said, now on the spot and wishing she hadn't said anything

"Emma..." Regina began

"Sorry, carried away." she said

"Emma" Regina tried again

"I was kidding, sort of" she couldn't wriggle out of this one

"Emma Swan will you be quiet?" Emma pressed her lips together. Maybe she was about to get the telling off she had been earning all day.

"I don't want to pretend to be married to you, or pretend to be dating you. I-" she glanced down at Emma's bag, bursting with their pictures with Henry. "-how many photos did you get?"

"All of them" Emma replied, sheepishly

A smile bloomed slowly across Regina's face. Her eyes lit up and Emma felt the tips of her ears turn pink. She couldn't tear her eyes from Regina's, though she knew she probably should if she was going to keep pretending she didn't have a crush on her.

'Stop thinking about how pretty she is. Stop looking into her eyes. Oh my god don't look at her lips'

Emma's mind was complete chaos until Regina leant into her space and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Her mind went blank and she turned into it instinctively. Their noses brushed and for a second they both just stayed there. Regina was the first to move, she pressed her lips against Emma's. She was quick to react, her hands finding Regina's waist and pulling them closer. Regina smiled and Emma tasted her lipstick.

"Oh my god" Emma said between kisses "I wish you'd done that this morning"

Regina leant back a little, drew a breath and looked Emma over. "If I'd done that this morning, we wouldn't have made it to the first ride"

Emma ran her fingers through her hair."You wanna get home before them?" she asked, and kissed Regina again.

"Mmhmm" was Regina's reply. So Emma was going to race the others home, just as soon as she could tear herself away from Regina's lips.


End file.
